I have a relative that I have been dealing with a lot recently and I have discovered she may have OCD Personality.

I don't think she overwashes hands, over cleans, etc. but, she is obsessed with doing things a certain way so that something isn't broken or goes wrong. She is insistent that if a door is not opened, closed and locked a certain way, that it will break, be wrong or something bad could happen as a result. She must handle the opening and closing of the door whenever I enter or exit, because she believes I will break it. I'm not kidding. (I have never broken anything at her house.)

She must watch me rinse a glass, since I may not handle it right and that would be terrible. She rearranges my tissues in the guest room when I leave, for some unknown reason. She will turn my shoes a different direction. She will become enraged if I pick up a tv table, as she believes I will break it if I open or close it. I must fold the throw a certain way, because her cat may walk on it and fall and break it's leg. All small crevices are taped up so her cat cannot enter and get hurt. That has never happened. A cat cannot enter into a 1 inch crevice.

Do you get the picture? I'm trying to figure out how to handle this. Oh, I also stronly suspect Asperger's.

She does doubt whether she can drive to many places. She thinks she will get lost or something terrible will happen, even though it never has. I'm not sure if that is what you mean.

What your relative is dealing with most certainly sounds like OCD, although I'm not a health professional. I've just had OCD for a long time and have done lots of research on it.

OCD symptoms are compulsions that are driven by obsessions that don't make sense. There is always a small bit of truth in these obsessions, but 99% of an obsession doesn't make sense. I would suggest your family member seeing a healthcare professional for these symptoms, because they sound just like OCD to me.

The important thing is not to give up on her. It can be very exhausting and difficult to do, but people with any kind of anxiety disorder need a healthy support system. This also means that you might need a support system yourself to help get through this. I would do research on OCD, but most importantly, get in contact with a healthcare professional.

I hope I helped,

Thanks.

The Following User Says Thank You to RockFan1984 For This Useful Post:
Kendra01 (04-30-2012)

Thanks for your words or support. I will try to convince her to go to a mental health care provider, but she is likely to refuse, because she may have to pay a co-pay. She is supposed to be disabled, but her story of what health care coverage she has changes. I suspect she just does not want to see a doctor of anytime. She will pay $100 for a bunch of air freshners, but claims she can't afford to see a dentist. I found her free dental care, but she then came up with another excuse not to go. It's frustrating. Right now, I'm taking a break from her.

That is not uncommon with people, not setting their priorities straight. For someone to buy a bag of candy rather than milk and bread. I'm sorry to hear that you're in a hard situation, but that's what she truly needs is a mental health professional.

My doubting issues are examples like when I lock a door. I'll check it and check it sometimes, not always, but after I've thoroughly checked it I won't feel comfortable leaving. I'll have to check it again.

I have this obsession with adopting a child. Like if I don't adopt, then some child will be out there somewhere living a horrible life. It's OCD for sure-- thoughts like if I don't do this adoption thing (that I'm not sure I want to do) then something horrible may happen to a kid. The more I face the fact that this is not something I really want to do, the more the guilt/ religious OCD nags me telling me I'm a bad person, gonna go to hell etc. I've just realized that it's just another symptom of my chronic OCD.